Is Cakewalk by BandLab Really Free?

I tried it yesterday...went to Bandlab...dl it, and after aprox an hour I erased it like it was never installed, so all its traces are gone...wiped clean.
The GUI is beatifull, mixing console as well...dis DAW is 4 ppl who record audio a lot, like guitars, bass, drums, vocals...
And what if u don't own license of Sonar like me? Well, dat's all up 2 u
But if u have prior license, then I guess u already installed it.
My issue with dis DAW is Midi or should I say VST instruments...I think its time dat they look under d hood, and make thorough overhaul...
I mean that Cakewalk TTS-1 looks like it was made in early 2000s, but their VST Bass is on d level (it sounds nice & its GUI looks fresh)...I could talk about all d things dat bothered me, but hey what's d point, right?!
Final thoughts: like stated b4, if u r into real instrument recording then go 4 it, try it & see 4 yourself...
But, if u work with midi sequencer like DrumRack in Ableton, Groove Agent SE in Cubase or Sample One in Studio One, then if I may suggest u stick with what works 4 u best..Amen, dat's it

Yes you are right a lot of Vsti/vsts are not included in the bandlab version of sonar. But which daw do you get for free with their top tier vst/i and sample libraries included? And the 3rd party ones are not included for obvious reasons.
You basically get the main features of sonar platinum - the daw for free. Hint get the additional content from a site you all know. This way you get a daw that gets updated with the content of sonar platinum.

For those who are interested what they get...Here is the cakewalk by bandlab vs sonar versions comparison charts (4/19/2018) from Bandlab - Meng

TW, you hit d nail right on d spot...you are correct regarding getting vst and/or sample packs from d favorite website (hint, no need 2 think twice), and like u said d daw gets its updates...and everybody win.
But still, I know its got lots of tracks (I even considered using it for mixing, by dat I mean getting levels that work 4 me, some eq compression etc, since its console looks really nice, but why should I stop with Harisson Mixbus).

I own Sonar Platinum so is there any point in my switching over? Will I lose some existing functions/bundled plugins (already installed) and will the Bandlab version add any future updates to my installation?

You can install cakewalk by bandlab it is completely compatible with your platinum version. Cakewalk will recognize your sonar installation and will open all your sonar platinum content and your projects. Because it is basically sonar platinum.
So you don`t have to switch over, you install them both. You can use/unistall cakewalk without affecting your sonar version. Cakewalk will get updates (who knows how many) and the newest version of cakewalk allready has some minor bug fixes compared to the last sonar platinum version.

i have installed this and it works fine ( technically speaking, i can't say i was impressed with it per se)..
it makes no sense to make something free and surrepticiously have a plan to milk the users or just plain stop the software working. if they do that, then the answer is simple. don't use it.
i don't know anything about bandlab, but if they have ambitions to develop it it really isn't such a bizarre startegy to give it away. it is slightly different but samplitude was on sale for $114 for the whole suite which is crazy.. or is it.
like pirate software it's most likely a bid to gather as many users as possible to get them into a development cycle somewhere down the line. like i say, i know nothing about bandlab so i can't speak to their standing or integrity.
i would be very surpised if this was some clandestine scam...

Best I can work out, their plan is to use SONAR/Cakewalk as a loss leader for selling VSTs and Content. From what I can work out they likely picked up Sonars IP for a bargain price and aim to give it away with the intention of pulling people into their ecosystem to sell plugins and sample packs and the like. Its quite a clever strategy when you think about it. I'm not too concerned at this stage about them trying to pull a swifty and suddenly charging a fee, that would decimate their userbase. Instead I think they are taking whats a fairly established and complete DAW, albeit a slightly eccentric one, and rejiggering it to go after Reaper by providing an alternative to reaper thats *actually* free and significantly more mature.

But yeah, a lot of the third party plugins that came with Sonar Platinum are gone, with Lounge lizard and Addictive drums being the more painfully felt ones. I doubt those are coming back as freebies, because they dont own the rights to give them away free. Instead I suspect they'll come back as some sort of paid add on, but that is just speculation on my behalf (That Lounge lizard one, by the way is one slick as hell rhodes emulation)

As opposed to what some members had said, you don't need to be online to use it but yeah you need to create a free account to download the installer and the updates through the "BandLab Assistant" (some kind of download manager). There is no ads nor any scam.
Once installed, I simply go back off line. That's all.
You can also install on an other online pc and then copy the installer to your offline studio pc so your studio pc never gets online. There are many ways to do things